This invention relates to an automatic separator device of the paddle type for temporary dividing boxes into bins while being filled with spinning and twisting tubes.
Known in the art are paddle devices associated with automatic machines for orderly rearranging and loading spinning tubes into collecting boxes, which have the function of temporarily dividing the box interior volume into bins while the box is being filled, such as to prevent the tubes, which are fed from a feeding roller oriented in one and the same direction, from turning over and arranging themselves crosswise during the box filling step. In particular, known are paddle separators which comprise a frame carrying paddles rigidly spaced apart from one another, which frame is manually applied to the box and then withdrawn, again manually, after the filling step has been completed.
Also known is a rigid paddle separator device which can be inserted into and withdrawn from the box, upon completion of the filling step, by a turnable arm linkage capable of carrying out, in accordance with a preset sequence and automatically, said frame inserting and withdrawing operations.
Of course, manually operated separator devices have in practice the disadvantage of requiring the availability of labor personnel, and of involving high manufacturing and inventory costs as a result from the necessity of keeping a number of devices available, whilst the mechanically operated devices are of complex construction, large bulk size, and involve considerable downtime for their actuation during the insertion and withdrawal steps into/from the box.